A Calgary Police Service officer has been charged with two counts of second-degree murder after the occupants of a van were shot dead following a slow-speed pursuit in 2023.
The Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) announced the charges in a news release on Tuesday, after letting the victim’s families know where the case was heading.
“I was very emotional,” said Lena Wildman, whose 39-year-old son Levon Fox was one of the two men killed that day two years ago. “It was just like receiving that phone call the morning of the shooting of my son. It was just like reliving that moment again.
“I had a lot of mixed emotions.”
The shooting took place on the morning of May 29, 2023, after police were called to a report of suspicious persons on private property, who then fled the scene in a stolen cube van.
Police said at the time that additional calls were then received about the van driving erratically on Memorial Drive.
The van was driving at a slow pace, and police said at the time that, in their words, “rapidly-changing dynamics” led one officer to shoot the occupants of the van.
Fox, a member of the Goodstoney First Nation, and another non-Indigenous man were killed.
“It shouldn’t have happened like that,” the grieving mother said on Tuesday when speaking with Global News about the charges. “Levon was a very kind person. He was a kind person that always put others before himself.
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“It’s not fair how his life ended.”
Earlier this year, dozens of people who knew and loved Fox took part in a protest and march calling for a review into police threat assessment training.
Wildman, who lives in Edmonton, said from the evidence she has seen, there was excessive force in the case.
There have been similar high-profile cases in Edmonton where an officer’s actions have led to a citizen’s death and ASIRT has recommended charges, only for the Crown prosecutor’s office to not follow through — citing a low likelihood of conviction. Wildman said murder charges being laid in her son’s case came as a surprise — but a welcome one.
“That tells me there’s evidence there. I am hoping that this is a wake-up call,” she said. “We have to keep questioning authority. We can’t always be passive – that kills the freedom that we have and it’s enough, it’s gone on long enough. People get injured, people get killed at the hands of police way too many times,” she said.
That said, Wildman doesn’t hate law enforcement — only people who take advantage of the power they are given.
“I do appreciate the role of police. Every time they step out the door, they’re putting their life on the line. I do appreciate that. At the same time, there are some that really abuse their authority.
“I have seen that, and it has to stop.”
Fox’s brother Dennis was in the vehicle during the shooting. Wildman said her son struggles with survivor’s guilt.
“He’s been carrying the loss, and I know there’s moments when he probably wishes that he was shot too, or moments when he feels it should have been him and not his brother. Because he lives with it. He’s still living with it, it’s hard for him to deal with, as well as my children, like his siblings and my granddaughter.”
Wildman said the loss is felt throughout her entire family, from the oldest to the youngest generation.
“My son passed away when his grandson was two years old, but they already had a bond, and he would play together,” Wildman said. “My great-grandson, he really latched on to his grandpa, and I saw that he was the one person that he listened to.”
Const. Craig Stothard appeared in court on Tuesday on the two counts and was released on bail with conditions.
— With files from The Canadian Press
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